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Hall of Fame
Before the U.S. Open match, ESPN showed the 4 other matches with the biggest age discrepancies in major finals and noted the younger player won all 4. Now the younger player has won all 5. Osaka is the future and Serena is the past.
The last decade of women's tennis has been dominated by Serena Williams because she's had no serious rival. Martina had Chris. Graf had Seles. Court had Billie Jean. Serena's had Sharapova? All of Serena's major competition retired in the first half of her career. Hingis mostly retired in 2003, Capriati retired in 2004, Davenport in 2007, Henin in 2008, and Mauresmo in 2009. Clijsters retired in 2007, came back, and retired again in 2012. And add to that, Venus was diagnosed with Sjögrens Syndrome in 2011. This weakest of all women's tennis eras began with Henin's retirement in May 2008 when she was still #1 in the world. It didn't just benefit Serena, it benefited Clijsters. After Clijsters came back, she won 3 majors out of the 9 she participated in before retiring again. Before her first retirement, Clijsters had only ever won 1 major. Serena has won 15 of her 23 majors in this weak era that has seen #1 players like Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, and Karolina Pliskova. Aside from 2 years when Azarenka played well, Serena hasn't had any strong competition since 2008 as "fluke" players like Ana Ivanovic, Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, Marion Bartoli, Flavia Pennetta, and Jelena Ostapenko have been able to win majors with no one else bringing anything remotely close to domination when Serena doesn't win. The winners of the last 8 majors have all been by 8 different women. The only good players of this era are the ones who have been good with extreme inconsistency: Sharapova, Azarenka, Kerber, Kvitova, Halep, Muguruza, and Li Na.
I do think that the weak era may be coming to an end though with the coming of two 20-year olds Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka. You can't watch their games and think they're the equivalent of Safina, Wozniacki, Ivanovic, and Jankovic. When I see Osaka play, I think of when Seles first came on the scene and devoured opponents. Osaka's set scores through the U.S. Open was 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, at one point winning 22 games straight! The only set she lost was to Sabalenka.
In the Open Era, Serena already holds the record of oldest major winner at 35 years 4 months. On the men's side, it's Ken Rosewall at 37 years 2 months. Serena will be that age after 1 more slam, next year's Australian Open. Don't get me wrong. Serena is without a doubt one of the top 5 women's tennis players ever and she's broken many records, but the likelihood of her breaking this one is very slim, especially if she's going to be contested by the likes of Osaka and Sabalenka going forward.
The last decade of women's tennis has been dominated by Serena Williams because she's had no serious rival. Martina had Chris. Graf had Seles. Court had Billie Jean. Serena's had Sharapova? All of Serena's major competition retired in the first half of her career. Hingis mostly retired in 2003, Capriati retired in 2004, Davenport in 2007, Henin in 2008, and Mauresmo in 2009. Clijsters retired in 2007, came back, and retired again in 2012. And add to that, Venus was diagnosed with Sjögrens Syndrome in 2011. This weakest of all women's tennis eras began with Henin's retirement in May 2008 when she was still #1 in the world. It didn't just benefit Serena, it benefited Clijsters. After Clijsters came back, she won 3 majors out of the 9 she participated in before retiring again. Before her first retirement, Clijsters had only ever won 1 major. Serena has won 15 of her 23 majors in this weak era that has seen #1 players like Dinara Safina, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, and Karolina Pliskova. Aside from 2 years when Azarenka played well, Serena hasn't had any strong competition since 2008 as "fluke" players like Ana Ivanovic, Francesca Schiavone, Samantha Stosur, Marion Bartoli, Flavia Pennetta, and Jelena Ostapenko have been able to win majors with no one else bringing anything remotely close to domination when Serena doesn't win. The winners of the last 8 majors have all been by 8 different women. The only good players of this era are the ones who have been good with extreme inconsistency: Sharapova, Azarenka, Kerber, Kvitova, Halep, Muguruza, and Li Na.
I do think that the weak era may be coming to an end though with the coming of two 20-year olds Naomi Osaka and Aryna Sabalenka. You can't watch their games and think they're the equivalent of Safina, Wozniacki, Ivanovic, and Jankovic. When I see Osaka play, I think of when Seles first came on the scene and devoured opponents. Osaka's set scores through the U.S. Open was 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, at one point winning 22 games straight! The only set she lost was to Sabalenka.
In the Open Era, Serena already holds the record of oldest major winner at 35 years 4 months. On the men's side, it's Ken Rosewall at 37 years 2 months. Serena will be that age after 1 more slam, next year's Australian Open. Don't get me wrong. Serena is without a doubt one of the top 5 women's tennis players ever and she's broken many records, but the likelihood of her breaking this one is very slim, especially if she's going to be contested by the likes of Osaka and Sabalenka going forward.
